Dead to Rights: Retribution £17.99 @ Play [XBox 360 & PS3 Games]

Few things get such an immediate negative reaction from me as the word "reimagining". Thankfully in this case the term is not twinned with "Tim Burton" but I was still unsurprised to find out that this new version of 2002's Dead to Rights is a thoroughly average affair. Nonetheless, what was surprising was the discovery that Play are currently selling it for £17.99, just three weeks after its release! This offers a tidy saving of £7.50, compared to the next best price for either console, available from Tesco Entertainment.

Grant City used to be a boom town but now it has fallen into ruin, sagging under the weight of an excess of corruption and crime. Enter vice cop Jack Slate, a man on a mission to free the city from the shackles of greed and indecency and the twisted men that control it.

Presentation-wise, it's all a bit lack-lustre; Grant City is a pretty drab place with very little to catch the eye and while combat is fun it just doesn't look all that cool or impressive. The sound is similarly mediocre but it's almost worth the purchase for Jack's incredible cheesy dialogue which falls firmly into so-bad-it's-very-entertaining territory. There's a decent selection of moves available but the controls are not fiddly or confusing and the man/dog dynamic helps keep combat interesting but mostly the gameplay doesn't really offer anything special to elevate this beyond any other third person action game out there.

At this price it may be worth a try if you're totally starved for anything to do (or just fancy cynically adding to your gamerscore before trading in without a big loss) but sadly Dead to Rights: Retribution really does not offer anything much to get excited about.